sisco

In addition to what everyone else said may I suggest:

A caliper. Digital or dial, it's nice to know how long your finished rounds are. Not just nice, it's necessary.

A kinetic bullet puller. Someday you'll be glad you have one.

If you use Lee sizing dies you won't break a de-capping pin.

Go to www.thehighroad.org or www.thefiringline.com (there are others!) and search the reloading forums.

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Redneck Repairs

Chris , yes there is a limited amount of berdin primed crap still out there lol . If you cannot id your brass beforehand and if its not your first decap tho you can usualy tell before you break a pin (going slow you can feel the anvil crush before the primer pops the detents on the pocket , berdin just stops . Reaming the primer pockets is helpfull on seating the new primers , but not necessary as long as you dont mind minor brass loss which you most likely will have due to outsized primer pockets anyway if you ream as a newby .

rocky

Guess that was what I was refering to. Especially since most the mil brass I had was headstamped '42 -'45 .

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Nemo Me Impune Lacesset

Link to my kydex builds:http://rocknloadkydex.blogspot.com/

Bud White

Why is the Dillon better?

Its just better built than the lee
Search one of the forums like the highroad and you will see a lot of complaints about the lee press's. Also they say the timing adjustments on the lee press are a about the same as my hornady lately

I think i got 50k round though my hornady have rebuilt it and still problems i think the frame is actually wore out now

Lee dies are good though as are bullet molds

Im on my second press and next one will be a Dillon

I use a Lyman tmag for most of my rifle rounds except 223 it was my first press and still gets used

I bought a hornady progressive and was very happy for about 2 years and after that what a nightmare and service has sucked

My Buddie has a Dillon loads more than me and guess what no problems and everyone says customer relations ay Dillon are the best

In reloading presses ya get what ya pay for

though i will recommend the tmag II for a starter that if you dont get into wanting to load 1000 pistol rounds in a week will serve you well

cvhoss

As a good starting point, I suggest you take a look at some of the "kits" available. One decent setup is the Lyman T-Mag turret kit like this one available from Midway and others. This kit would provide most everything to get you started except for dies and a couple of odds and ends. Concerning dies, as one other poster already mentioned, I would suggest the small base dies if you a loading for an auto-loader. The auto loaders just don't have the camming force of a bolt action and require the ammunition be much closer to original specs.

As to powder and primers, that's the fun part of reloading. I'm always amazed at how many times the change of just a primer brand can shave 1/2" or more off a 100 yd. group. Every gun has its own likes and dislikes. You just have to experiment until you find what yours likes best. Just personal preference, but I've always had great luck with CCI primers. Of the target/varmint rifles I've had, I've only found one that actually benefited from the more expensive "bench rest" primers. I guess I’ve been lucky. As for powders, most of my rifles settled in on either Vihtavuori or AA powders. If you stick with ball or short extruded powders, the Lyman 55 powder measure is a good measure. If you find yourself using the longer extruded powders, you can’t go wrong with a Belding & Mull powder measure. THEY ARE EXPENSIVE, but they are the most accurate powder measures I’ve ever used. They are currently available from Buffalo Brothers (and maybe others). I would look specifically at this one.

If you want to use extruded powers but don’t want to invest in the B&M measure, you’ll want a powder trickler and use it to top of the last few tenths of a grain.

As others have said, you’ll also want a decent set of calipers. Personally, I like the digitals and they aren’t much more than a good dial caliper.

You’ll also want a reloading tray. I like the individual sized ones like this from Midway but you can also get more universal ones.

Lastly, others have said it but it bears repeating – you can’t have too many loading manuals.

Have fun.

mark555

Go to bluepress.com to see the Dillon presses. They have a no BS life time warranty, If it breaks they will fix it.

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